A Message of Hope in Hard Times

I’ve received a lot of emails from people, and had a lot of conversations over the last several weeks with Catholics on the brink of despair.

How could this happen? What is going on? What are we going to do?

I share your pain and confusion…deeply.

And while I’m horrified by daily revelations about the cancer that is eating our Church alive, I also know that Christ is King and His Church will endure.

In this episode of the Art of Catholic I’m going to weigh in on where I find myself coming down in all of this. And I want to provide some food for thought and prayer as we continue to watch all of this unfold.

It’s my desire to give you some hope and a plan of action.

The crisis isn’t going away. It shouldn’t go away. It needs to be dealt with immediately.

But I also want to remind you why the Catholic Church is, and will always be, holy…in spite of humanity’s best attempts to muck it up.

Blessings,

Matthew

P.S. Join me for a time of spiritual renewal in March 2019: Rome, Assisi, Orvieto, LaVerna, and much, much more!

St. Peter certainly did when after he briefly walked toward our Lord on the surging waves of the Sea of Galilee.

And you have to hand it to Peter.

He jumped out of the boat during a raging storm. All because Christ said, “Come.”

That’s exactly what Jesus says to us every day…”Come.” No matter what storm is raging in your life, you can walk over the crashing waves toward our loving Lord.

That’s not pious sentiment for a Hallmark card or an “inspirational” cubicle poster featuring cats. There’s something in that passage most people totally miss that raises the whole story on a different level.

Christ literally says, “Take heart, it is I: have no fear.” These words are far more than mere encouragement.

In this brief episode I recorded in Jerusalem, I’ll tell you why Jesus’ word’s to the Disciples can totally change the way you view every struggle in your life.

“I’m giving up all tv (except for March Madness), Facebook, and coffee is a thing of the past.

In fact, nothing edible will grace my gullet for forty days. And I’m going to read the entire Bible front to back in Hebrew and Greek while wearing a hair shirt that would bring Bigfoot to tears.”

Sound familiar? We’re all big talkers at the beginning of Lent, aren’t we?

We’re going to get really holy, get really in touch with our Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross. We’re strong enough! Who needs food! (It’s a scientific fact that most rash Lenten resolutions are made on a full stomach.)

So how’s it going? Uh-huh…thought so.

If you’ve struggled to keep up with your lenten resolutions just take a deep breath and relax. It’s hard to sacrifice. It’s meant to be hard.

And for those of us who bit off more than we could chew, it can be discouraging because we weren’t able to perfectly keep our promises. We failed!

But let’s keep a couple things in mind.

First of all, be realistic. If you’re trying to do too much, take a step back and get real. I’m not trying to get anyone off the hook, because the whole point is to be sacrificial and it’s never easy.

But at the same time, it would do us good to recall the famous line from Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry character in Magnum Force: “Man’s got to know his limitations…”

Second, the Lord is merciful. He’s not mad at you for failing. He might be chuckling at your inability to put down the Oreo and walk away, but he’s not mad. He’s the most merciful person in the world!

Remember, Lenten sacrifice isn’t for him. It’s for us. It’s meant to help us take our eyes off of this world and focus on the next. It’s meant to help us love Christ more, not get down on ourselves.

So if you’ve fallen a few times already, stand up and brush the Little Debbie crumbs off your pants. Then pick up your Lenten cross and start again…but maybe with one made from a little lighter wood.

ABOUT ME

I am an author, speaker, podcaster, Vice President and Executive Producer at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. I’m married to a beautiful woman named Veronica with whom I have six children (so far…she’s 10 years younger so you never know).